American congressmen are absolutely shameless. We know they stuff bills full of add-ons all of the time, but as the extra pork doesn’t usually get media attention, you have to be a real wonk to dig it out. Last night, the senate passed the 451 page bailout bill, H.R. 1424, that’s supposed to save our economy from certain disaster. With SO much attention on this bill, you’d THINK they would have kept it pretty clean, and have legislation solely focused on the problem at hand. But even now they just can’t help themselves. They’re on auto-pork, and the new Senate bill is NO different.

Here are a few things we taxpayers are gonna get to pay for in addition to bad mortgages and other high-risk bank loans. Warning: you may feel like getting the barf bag or the shotgun.

NEW Tax earmarks in Bailout bill:
*Film and Television Productions (Sec. 502) -HOLLYWOOD gets money?
*Wooden Arrows designed for use by children (Sec. 503)- Unbelievable. Page 229.
*6 page package of earmarks for litigants in the 1989 Exxon Valdez incident, Alaska (Sec. 504)

Tax earmark “extenders” in the bailout bill.- this is pork we are already paying for, but the bill is gonna make us pay for more of it:

*Virgin Island and Puerto Rican Rum (Section 308)
*American Samoa (Sec. 309)
*Mine Rescue Teams (Sec. 310)
*Mine Safety Equipment (Sec. 311)
*Domestic Production Activities in Puerto Rico (Sec. 312)
*Indian Tribes (Sec. 314, 315)
*Railroads (Sec. 316)
*Auto Racing Tracks (317) over 108 million for Nascar?
*District of Columbia (Sec. 322)
*Wool Research (Sec. 325) over 110 million for studying a fabric that’s been used for milleniums?

What the holy f***. We have a “credit crunch”, which means we need liquidity in the credit markets. This is freakin’ outrageous! There’s not enough lipstick in the world to dress up THIS pig. Financial guru and sanity advocate Dave Ramsey has a smart, logical and MUCH cheaper plan, called The Common Sense Fix, and this is it in a nutshell:
* Take all of the mortgages whose adjustable interest rates have been jacked sky-high and reset them to 6% fixed rates.
* Insure, instead of BUY the mortgages.
* Eliminate the capital gains tax.
This would cost $1-2 billion, instead of $700+ billion, and would put liquidity back into the credit markets within 24 hours. Notice anything ABSENT from the plan? No wooden arrow money, for one. If you’re tired of congress shoving it up our bums, let them know. Here’s where you can find the contact information for your senators and house representatives. Tell them that we are finally on to them, and to stick this bill where the sun don’t shine. House voting starts around 7:30 ET tonight.

photo credit: freakingnews